Flint Generals lose 6-3 in regular-season home finale

FLINT, Michigan --- The final regular-season game of the year at Perani Arena was a memorable one.

But for Flint Generals fans, it was mostly for the wrong reasons.

The Fort Wayne Komets beat the Generals 6-3 before 2,001 International Hockey League fans to extend the International Hockey League's longest winning streak to 11 games.

Fort Wayne had won 10 straight games twice previously before Saturday's victory.

It was also the seventh straight time the Komets (56-12-5-2) have beaten the Generals, giving them an 11-2-1-0 record against Flint entering today's regular-season finale at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, where Fort Wayne has won an IHL-record 25 straight games.

The loss left the Generals (33-28-5-9) with a final record of 17-12-4-5 at home this season. They open the playoffs Friday against Port Huron while Fort Wayne will face Muskegon. The winners of each series will meet for the Turner Cup.

The first two periods Saturday were almost a carbon copy of Friday's game, when Fort Wayne won 5-4 in overtime.

The teams traded goals in the first period as Luciano Aquino (40) and defenseman Guy Dupuis tallied for the Komets while Justin DePretis (17) and Jaroslav Cesky (16) connected for the Generals to send the game to the middle frame tied 2-2.

The trend continued in the second, when Brandon Warner (6) gave Fort Wayne a 3-2 lead only to see Flint's Josef Fojtik (28) answer barely two minutes later to it again.

The Komets finally took the lead with 44.7 seconds left in the second period, when former General Terry Marchant (17) scored from the top of the left faceoff circle.

Justin Hodgman (4) and Dupuis (15) scored in the final 5:50 to ice it.

The Generals finished with an average attendance of 2,217, the lowest in the franchise's history. But Ron Sanko, Flint's director of hockey operations and one of the club's owners, said that number is misleading because the Generals have given away fewer free tickets than in the last several seasons.

The lowest previous average was 2,230 last season.

In General: Flint played without forwards Jared Dumba, John DiPace, Mike Alexiou and defenseman Ryan Jorde. ... For the first time in franchise history, the Generals didn't hand out team awards before the regular-season home finale. ... Fort Wayne finished with a sparkling 24-9-3-2 road record. ... An estimated 200 Fort Wayne fans attended the game. ... Both teams saluted their fans after the game.